Above: O'Brien, working it. The rock jetty contributes to the creation of the unusual and unpredictable wave, which is seen just a few times each year. Photo: Jimmy Wilson/Red Bull Illume

Above: O'Brien makes it look easy. That's what happens when you grow up surfing the Banzai pipeline. In 2008 O'Brien became the first surfer to win the Pipe Masters, Pipeline Pro and Backdoor Shootout in one year Photo: Zak Noyle/Red Bull Content Pool

Above: The Wedge isn't for the weak or the stupid. The waves are big, the water is shallow and you can take a beating. "You've gotta be careful but you've gotta take risks too," O'Brien said. "It's worth the risk." Photo: Jimmy Wilson/Red Bull Illume

Above: O'Brien, making himself at home. Yeah, we'd rather be there too. Photo: Zak Noyle/Red Bull Content Pool

Above: O'Brien, at the end of a long day. "Some really nice sets came in," he said. No kidding. Photo: Jimmy Wilson/Red Bull Illume

Video: Red Bull Content Pool

When the waves call, you go, even if means dropping everything to be there.

Hawaiian pro surfer Jamie O’Brien was at home on Oahu when he got the word that the National Weather Service had issued a high surf advisory for the beaches of Orange County, California. That meant one thing — a weekend surfingthe Wedge, Newport Beach’s famous big wave.

O’Brien caught the next flight to the mainland.

Storms in the South Pacific and off the coast of Mexico conspired to pound SoCal with 15-foot waves during Labor Day weekend. It was perfect conditions for the Wedge, an unusual and unpredictable wave seen just a few times each year. The folks at Red Bull, O’Brien’s sponsor, explained it like this: Grinding alongside the boulders of the jetty and headed for shore, each wave generates a reflected wave that bounces off the jetty and moves sideways behind the original. When it hits the next incoming wave, they combine precisely where the ocean floor rises abruptly. The big peak has no place to go but up.

The waves are amazing, but the conditions are treacherous.

“The dangerous thing about the wave is you’ve got a big break wall,” O’Brien said. “The rocks are huge. Sometimes they can slam you against the rock. You’ve gotta be careful about that. When that wave lands on your head, it’s only about two or three feet deep. It’ll slam you into the bottom really hard. It’s not fun.”